


i'll always be around

by manchestereye (orphan_account)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gay Dan Howell, Gay Panic, Gay Phil Lester, M/M, Oblivious Dan Howell, Sharing a Bed, dan's a dummy, that's it lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 08:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20255308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/manchestereye
Summary: dan howell sure is a dumbass.or, the 3 + 1 fic where dan is already with phil but he doesn't know that, that no one asked for.





	i'll always be around

**Author's Note:**

  * For [icosmics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/icosmics/gifts).

> yeah okay i just opened up a blank document and then this happened 
> 
> title is a waterparks song (it's really good lmao)
> 
> icosmics i'm feeding you phanfic pls love me

“phil.”

he grumbles. “what?”

“spoon me.” dan says, poking at his back.

“dan, i’m tired.” 

“and i’m cold, you fuck.” 

phil yawns. “you should’ve turned on the heater.”

“yeah, well, i forgot.” 

phil rolls over and wraps his arm around dan. “only because you’re cute..”

right. of course phil would say that he’s cute. in a  _ friendly  _ way _ . _

friends. that’s all they’ll ever be. 

dan howell isn’t a teenager anymore, but he sure feels like it whenever he’s around phil. he’s had a crush on him since they were teenagers in high school. if only he could just man up and tell phil that he likes him, then he wouldn’t be in this deep of a mess.

sure, they spoon. they sleep in the same bed out of “convenience.” sometimes they’ll kiss each other to get out of annoying situations. they hold hands in public just so that they don’t lose each other. phil’s brought dan to see his parents multiple times. they share things that some married couples don’t share, like a bank account. but that doesn’t help dan in the slightest. it just makes things worse.

dan wakes up before phil the next morning, and scrolls through tumblr while waiting for phil to wake up. he feels like he’s going to have an existential crisis. best friends don’t wait for the other to wake up just so that they could eat breakfast together. but that’s how they’ve always done it. it’s been routine ever since they moved in together. 

whatever. it’s not going anywhere. dan howell will just grow up lonely, gay, and sad, while phil finds the love of his life. 

-

dan’s at work a few days later when a customer comes up to him.

“hey, what’s the deal with your black haired friend over there? is he single?” the man asks. 

dan is a little bit miffed that he’s being asked these types of questions, but he works a bartending job with phil at a gay bar/club. it’s bound to happen, more often than not.

“yeah, he is.” dan sighs. dan doesn’t belong to phil, it would be rude of him to keep phil from having a date with a seemingly nice man. 

he hopes that man is nice. if he sends phil off to his death, he’ll never forgive himself.

“great, thanks.” he slides over to the other side of the bar and chats with phil for a minute before he goes back to dan.

“asshole.”

dan’s shocked now. “what the fuck did i do?”

“you said he was single! he said he had a boyfriend!” the man walks off angrily. 

  1. phil has a boyfriend? how come dan doesn’t know this? he feels like he should know this, because they’re best friends and surely his boyfriend wouldn’t like the fact that he shares a bed with dan. his boyfriend surely wouldn’t like the fact that dan and phil are two peas in a pod. does the boyfriend even know about dan? phil never leaves the apartment, who even is this guy?

this is really sketchy. dan wants to get to the bottom of this. 

he looks back at phil, who just gives him a wide smile before going back to his work serving another customer. 

dan wonders if their other friends know about phil’s relationship. the voice in his head tells him that maybe one of their friends  _ is  _ the secret relationship. but dan shoots that idea down quickly, because their close friends are either girls, guys that are straight, or guys that have partners already.

he’s refilling the alcohol bottles at the bar while he’s thinking of all of this, and he doesn’t break out of his trance until he accidentally drops a bottle of vodka and accidentally cuts his hand. 

phil notices and starts panicking, telling dan to go in the back and rinse the cut out before putting a bandage on it while he cleans up. phil puts a “sorry, we’re closed” sign on the bar before heading to the back with dan.

“are you okay?” he asks.

“yeah.” dan lies.

“just wanted to make sure. you know you can talk to me if you’ve got something on your mind.” phil says. he kisses dan’s cheek before heading back out, and dan’s even more confused than ever.

he wasn’t even this confused over his own sexuality, jesus christ. 

needless to say, dan doesn’t get much sleep that night.

-

dan doesn’t want to ask his friends anything about phil’s relationship, because they’ll probably laugh at him and think he’s weird for not knowing who phil’s boyfriend is. it’s fine, he can figure this out on his own. 

this has been plaguing his mind for weeks now. to be honest, he just wants to find the damn guy so that dan doesn’t have to keep obsessing over it.

they’re both at home, and phil’s pacing around in the living room on the phone. dan’s reading stuff on twitter news because it’s his way of being up to date on politics. it’s horrible, but dan would feel worse not knowing about this stuff going on the world.

“no, my boyfriend and i have plans on tuesday.” phil says. it catches dan’s attention.

tuesday? that’s their day together! that’s when they get chinese take out and play mario kart until phil passes out. since when did phil hang out with anyone else on tuesdays? oh well, phil is his own person, dan doesn’t have to obsess over every single detail about him. maybe it’s an online relationship. 

on tuesday, phil doesn’t leave the apartment at all, and they continue having fun together. he does, however, check his phone a lot. dan’s tempted to look into it, since his fingerprint works for the phone, but dan’s not evil. his psycho thoughts are just acting up again. 

he thinks that phil will just tell him whenever he’s ready. 

when dan loses a match, phil is extremely happy that he’s won, and dan congratulates him on his win because dan is not a sore loser no matter what everyone else thinks. phil kisses him on the lips and cups his cheeks, and dan could feel himself blushing super hard. he kisses back out of impulse, but he remembers phil’s boyfriend. oh sweet jesus, he’s a homewrecker.

they don’t bring it up to each other, but it makes dan howell rather anxious that night.

-

they’re at the store together the day after, buying ribena and arguing over the cereal. 

“phil, we wouldn’t have to keep buying cereal all the time if you just stopped eating the whole damn bag in three days!” dan says.

phil sticks his tongue at him. “i’ll have you know that i’m a growing boy.”

dan scoffs. “phil, you are a six foot two twenty-seven year old, you can handle eating only one bowl in the mornings.”

“well, mr. i’m-selfish-about-my-cereal, maybe-”

“excuse me?” an elderly stole clerk interrupts him.

“yes?” dan answers.

“keep your damn lover’s quarrel to yourselves! there are children around, my goodness!” she says.

oh, yay. another homophobe.

“well, i’m sorry that you feel this way, but my  _ boyfriend  _ and i are perfectly fine. dan, let’s go, this place doesn’t need our business.” phil says, grabbing dan’s hand. dan drops the basket to the floor and follows phil.

that’s when he realizes.  _ holy shit they’re boyfriends. dan howell is phil’s boyfriend _ . oops. 

now that he thinks about it, yeah, of course they’re boyfriends. they’ll kiss each other to solve domestic disputes, they’re always going on dinner dates together, and phil likes to cuddle him all the time. they even have pet names for fuck’s sake! how could dan  _ not  _ know this by now?

cool. cool. cool. dan howell is a massive idiot.

he stops his internal freak out over this when they get inside the car. dan kisses him and phil just holds his hand tightly, even though he’s driving.

-

they’re cuddling later that night when dan brings the whole thing up to him. 

“so i may or may not be an idiot.” 

phil sighs. “what did you do this time?”

“i promise it’s not bad, i just… sort of maybe… didn’t realize that we were a couple until the whole ribena incident earlier.”

phil just laughs at him. “so that’s why we don’t get past first base.”

“wow, can’t believe you’re just going to laugh at my misfortunes.” dan fake pouts. “when did we get together?” 

“high school prom. i kissed you goodnight on your cheek as i took you home and waited for you to go inside.”

“it’s been that long?!”

phil giggles. “apparently.”

dan smirks now. “well, then,  _ mister _ , we have a lot to make up for.”

they head to the bedroom, and needless to say, they don’t sleep a wink that night.

-

two days later, phil comes home from the mall while dan’s cooking dinner. 

“i know that you just found out that we’ve been a thing for like years now, but i was gonna propose to you, so… daniel howell, will you marry me?”

dan sheds a tear and just hugs his  _ fiance  _ tightly before giving him a big kiss. 

“you know, i literally thought you were in an online relationship when you kept checking your phone on tuesday.” dan says while phil puts the ring on his finger.

“oh dan, you really are oblivious. i was checking to see if  _ this _ ,” he points to the ring on dan’s finger, “had gotten to the mall yet.”

dan just kisses him. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank u
> 
> tumblr: sudden-sky


End file.
